One of the most recent trends that has seemed to die down a little as of late has been the devaluation of the running back position during the NFL draft. There have been years of discourse about finding a guy in the later rounds of the draft instead of spending valuable draft capital on a guy that could be spent on a “more valuable” position. That trend was certainly bucked during the 2023 draft, where two running backs went in the top half of the first round in Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. Both rookies made huge impacts on their team. Could that lead to seeing a back taken early this season?
This crop of running backs is certainly one of the deepest ones we have seen in quite a while, with a handful of guys sitting around the same value as a perceived second-round selection, but as we have seen in the past, the perceived value isn’t always reality. A few names that could work themselves up draft boards during the pre-draft process that come to mind are:
-Florida State’s Trey Benson
-Michigan’s Blake Corum
-Texas’ Jonathon Brooks
While Corum and Benson will need excellent combines to be considered for the first round, both have an excellent track record as effective, intelligent, and versatile players at the position. Jonathon Brooks is an example of top level physical talent that could be tantalizing to a team that projects him as a future star in the league.
While the talent isn’t quite as stacked as last year ultimately it only takes on team to fall in love with any of the many running backs in the upcoming class. It is hard to say for certain that one of these players will end up in the first round, it is nice that the past few seasons have reversed the stigma on doing so.
